Archives for September 2015

I am a firm believer in that the best way I can show love to my kids is by loving their daddy immensely.

Which isn’t hard to do.

{Sorry if I gush a little and he is going to HATE this}

My husband is an amazing man. He is brilliant {a dreamer/visionary}. He is loving. He is kind. He is gracious to people who call him awful things like “a spineless hillbilly” {true story – he was called that once}. And he is hilarious.

It really is no wonder to me why I want to be around him…like, all the time. We talked a few years ago, when his job moved back to Columbia, that we would get to have day-dates ALL the time.

We hardly ever go on a day-date. Hardly. Ever. It just rarely ever happens.

Last November we went on a day-date to the movies – yep, the movies. Our kids were at daycare so we didn’t have to think about getting a baby sitter, and well, 2 hours away from work was just fine given the hours we normally put in over the course of a 40-ish hour work week.

Several months ago we talked about that date…and decided that, “hey…you know, we should totally do that again….” We talked about movies that were currently playing and which one(s) we should go see…and that was it. It was all talk. We never made plans.

It’s been almost a year since that first day-date to the movies when on this past Sunday, while happening to drive through the movie theater parking lot, he said “Can we do that this week? Do you have a day that works?”

We picked out the movie. I said “Wednesday is the only day that works for me.” We picked the time and I sent the calendar invite AND added it to my new agenda.

Yesterday he sent me a text, “I have an urgent meeting now at 2:30 tomorrow, can we change the theater and go earlier?”

Have I told you how wonderful he is? He didn’t just cancel on me. He suggested the new theater WITH the new time.

Thankfully it worked out for my calendar that I could also go earlier.

And no trip to the movies is complete until there is butter {“butta”} on the popcorn! This was our lunch :)

The movie was pretty great; there was one side story that was sort of “blah” but I loved Robert Di Nero’s character – he reminded me so much of my Dad. And Anne Hathaway is completely delightful.

If you’re looking for a day-date with your honey, this is a very good option. There was one part where I was gut-laughing and I think Andrew was laughing so hard because of me. I love to laugh..it’s my favorite…and that scene {with Adam DeVine’s character} was a riot…I think I almost started crying I was laughing so hard!

All this to say, sometimes evenings/nights are hard/difficult/complicated, especially if you have kiddos. If you can swing the day-date: lunch, a movie, sitting in a park together – do it. It breaks up the routine AND you get to spend time with your special someone making those connections that are oh-so-important in relationships.

I’m all about a fun night out with girlfriends, whether it’s a cocktail hour or a fun movie…it doesn’t happen very often so when the opportunity presents itself I’m all over it! I heard on the radio a couple of days ago that Caroline Rhea is planning to be in Columbia THIS Friday…and if you’ve ever seen “Sabrina, The Teenage Witch”, “The Biggest Loser” or “The Caroline Rhea Show”, then you know who Caroline Rhea is…AND you know that she is hilarious!

She’s going to be here performing her stand up comedy show: Everything from blind dating after 30 {I couldn’t think of anything more terrifying/intriguing! It was bad enough when I knew who the person was!}, her parents’ technological challenges {since my mom reads my blog:”no comment” :)} and catcalling on the streets of New York City…I don’t even know what to say to this other than her reactions must be beyond hysterical! Can you imagine what her reply would be?! I lol just trying to pretend to hear her shouting back at these silly people!!

So, here’s the deal, she will be here for ONE night only – THIS Friday, October 2nd at 7:30pm – at the Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College {for more info: http://www.harbisontheatre.org/tickets-productions/caroline-rhea}.

Call your babysitter {which could be your husband! ha!}, grab a girlfriend, grab all of your girlfriends and GO! Make a night of it if you can – grab some food, a glass of wine – there are tons of restaurants in Harbison {go early!} and enjoy a night out…but be safe!

The other deets: it’s only $25/person {preferred for older teens and adults!}: a steal for burning all those calories {10-15 minutes of laughing can burn up to 50 calories!!}. You can purchase tickets at www.HarbisonTheatre.org or via phone at 803-407-5011, or in person at the Harbison Theatre Box Office, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The box office also will open two hours prior to this show!

Happy Monday, Friends! This is the last Monday of September, 2015, and the last Monday of this Blog-tember Challenge! Today’s challenge is to show you a day in my life…get ready!

4:40am – My alarm goes off and my day is beginning. I get up and either stretch or walk on the treadmill while reading my daily Bible study – right now I’m reading through Ephesians with the She Reads Truth app….and the verse or truth posted with my reading has become my first IG post of the day

5:10am – Time to get myself ready for the work day.

6:15am – By this point I’m ready – clothed, make-up’d, everything but my shoes are on. I go downstairs and start getting breakfast made and lunches together.

I don’t cook breakfast every day…Today I boiled enough eggs to last until Tuesday or Wednesday and I try to cook enough sausage or bacon to last a couple of days too. Eggs + meat=my typical breakfast.

While she drinks her milk in her princess chair, I eat my breakfast while putting together milk cups and other things for their day.

6:45am – Reynolds {has suddenly become a morning person?!?!} makes his way downstairs for his breakfast. He eats french toast sticks or a cinnamon roll {I make those once a week usually}.

Between 7 and 7:15 we’re doing wild and crazy things like brushing teeth, getting clothes changed and throwing bags together so we can make the mad-dash out the door no later than 7:20.

7:35am – We’re at daycare – the whole family. Today we carpooled because Andrew’s truck was left at the hotel over the weekend {from the game Saturday} and I have a flat tire – well, not totally flat, but it’s getting close!

Eliza Jane eats her breakfast {muffins or yogurt} once she gets to school. {She’ll shoot me one day for this photo!!}

The washing of hands….Reynolds thought it might be fun to taste the soap today…

7:50am – Andrew drops me off at my office and takes my car to Firestone to see about a plug or a new tire.

8:05am – I have a meeting with a few ladies in our office.

8:40am – I’m checking emails and looking at what’s going on for the day. We have a seminar for all employees today and tomorrow {1/2 of our staff are doing it today, the other 1/2 tomorrow} so today has the potential to be a little crazier than some Mondays.

My work day is pretty typical, emails, calls, meetings, etc. My departments run pretty smoothly so I don’t usually have a lot of issues to deal with or personnel type things. Thankful!

Sometimes I get a little silly :)

1pm – So since I don’t have my car today…and it’s raining, I’ll be here for lunch. Thank you, Jimmy John’s for my delicious BLT! Normal lunches for me could be a date with a girlfriend or running errands.

5:10pm – I’m out the door headed to get kiddos {I got my car from Andrew earlier this afternoon – complete with a new tire!}.

I usually try to leave my office no later than 5:30 to go get our kids – who are just a block away from me. My goal every day is to be home by 6pm.

Our drive home is sometimes a little crazy. Reynolds was singing today and Eliza Jane fell asleep {she got four shots today…FOUR} so little one was pooped!

5:50pm – We’re home and the 2nd mad-dash of the day starts. Dinner. Baths {we do every other night unless the kids are totally gross…} and bed time, all by 7pm.

6:10 – Dinner is on the stove {we had chicken fried rice tonight} and my sous chef was right next to me. This kid loves to watch and help me cook at night!

It has been a goal of mine since last year, to sit down together as a family in our dining room for supper. I am thankful and over-joyed to say that most nights we actually do this!

7pm – We take the kids upstairs and get ready for bed. Reynolds and I read one book and then he wanted “circle time”, where we rolled a small soccer ball back and forth to each other and then sang songs. Every other night Andrew and I trade off kids so tomorrow night I’ll put Eliza Jane down. Tonight Andrew had her and said she nearly lept into her crib. This was after she passed out in the car and then I let her snooze on the couch for 15 minutes after we got home. Bless her. Big brother was a little sad for her I think. I asked if he wanted to say a little prayer for her since she didn’t feel good…

7:30pm – Both kids are in bed and I can be found either folding some laundry, doing the dishes {Andrew also pitches in here}, finishing a blog post {yay!}, or walking on the treadmill. {I’m finishing this post and Andrew is watching Jeopardy!}

By 8:30 I’m done. Unless laundry has exploded all over our bed or something completely nuts has happened in our home, this is relaxing time. Andrew and I will often talk about our day or what might be coming up later in the week.

Between 9-9:30 I’m getting ready for and then in the bed, reading a book or wasting time looking at Facebook, Instagram, checking emails or something else.

10pm – is definitely lights out….and dreaming of doing it all over again tomorrow!

There aren’t a lot of things I want…so I hope you’re not too disappointed with my list.

First, the things:

I would really like to have a new bag. Andrew and I are going on a trip in December, and new leather tote or crossbody would be fantastic. A few options can be found here: bag one, bag two and bag three.

A Master Gardner class – a friend at work did one in the last year through the Clemson Extension. With a love a joy of all things gardening, this is a true dream.

Hiring a decorator to fix my house! I have never done this ever, but with the inability to put together a room, I really need and want this. I’ve seen the ad on Facebook for Havenly– and feel like that’s the route I really want to go. You send them pictures, they send you two versions of your room with all kinds of furnishings, etc. along with the prices so you can put the room together yourself… The first room I would tackle would be our dining room.

A screened in porch. We have the perfect spot for one – our kitchen flows into our den and between the two we have a double window. The idea is to bust those out and install french doors that would lead straight out to a screened in porch. I LOVE to be outside. But I hate mosquitoes and for whatever reason, they love me…AND Reynolds. I would love to be able to sit “out”, read a book or listen to the rain, and be protected.

A circular driveway {which means cutting down trees} + new plants and flowers in our front yard. When we purchased this home a little over two years ago…we knew that we would be entertaining several times a year. There isn’t a really good area for our guests to park as it is right now, so this is something we want to do to accommodate all of our friends.

That’s it! Ha. I know that’s a lot and some pretty big price tags in there. Some of these will be done over time obviously. For us right now, the screened in porch is the one we want to move on first. It would be such a large benefit for our family and friends and it just makes sense for us to do this first.

Today’s challenge is to share with y’all the books I’m currently reading and those on the to-read list.

I’ll start with the currently reading list.

Ephesians with my She Reads Truth app – so good. I love Paul’s writings and this study is just fantastic. The gals at SRT have been gifted with beautiful hearts and the ability to teach through their writings.

Leadership As An Identity – another one that is so good. I just recently started reading this book as part of a mentoring program I’m doing. It’s a very easy read and has wonderful reminders of those Biblical principals that we all should strive to live by, but especially those of us in leadership positions. I’ve had so many good take-aways from this book.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – um. This one I’ve struggled with, to be honest. I’m reading it with one of my employees who requested to read this book as a goal of his this year. I know it’s one of those “must read” books, but I don’t love it. I think the habits are great reminders of those things we need to be doing day in and day out. But this book to me is long and drawn-out. Maybe it’s my impatient nature…I want to hurry up and get to the point and then move on to the next….

The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player – I read this book a few years ago with my boss and another manager at our company and really enjoyed it then. This time around I’m reading it with another employee, as a goal she had for herself this year. It’s an easy read and is set up as short principles to grasp for someone who wants to be extraordinary in the workplace. Adjectives such as “Mission Conscious, Committed and Disciplined” are words that we all want to describe us as team players.

Dinner: The Playbook – a sweet co-worker friend gave me this book and it is fantastically comical and practical all at once. I think I’m still trying to convince myself that I CAN do what the author says I can…. I’m re-reading it and making plans. We’ll see what happens in the next few weeks!

Those are all of the books I’m currently reading. And trust me, as someone who isn’t really a “read-er”, this is a lot of reading! :)

On my end table in our den I have a stack of magazines that I really would like to read/flip through: Real Simple, Better Homes & Gardens and HGTV – all favorites and regulars for the end table.

Books I want to read…

In getting ready for the Holiday Season {it is really just around the next corner!}, I have a book that was given to us last year, Unwrapping the Greatest Gift, that I really want to be geared up to read and soak in during Advent.

I also really want to get my hands on For the Love that just came out last month – and I’ve heard really great things about this book.

The last book that I really want to get through right now is one that came out this Summer: Real Simple’s Guide to Real Life. I really enjoy the magazine and figure that the book has to be pretty great too.

There’s a part of me that thinks the want to read list is going to be on pause for the next few months, probably until 2016 arrives…mainly because our life is already busy enough as it is and we’re about to be in the wild and crazy holiday season! I guess we’ll see!!

I would love to know what you’re reading these days! Is there anything that you’re really wanting to get your hands on?

That’s it…I know…I feel like I should continue on, but the challenge was only 3 songs. Maybe that was the real challenge…only list THREE songs when you really want to list 50!!

Oh, and don’t judge me for that last song. It’s just a fun/hilarious/bizarre song…. I’m not really “connecting” with it…but it makes me smile/dance/sing/laugh, so there. Just click on the link and dance!!

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